Thursday, 25 May 2017

Lightsabers
have always been a contentious issue for me. Like any child of the seventies
and eighties, I think, I was obsessed with Luke Skywalker and his lightsaber.
Eventually, I sort of “grew out of it”, which sounds condescending (considering
the massive popularity of lightsabers and Jedi), although it certainly isn’t
meant to be. Remember, this is my opinion, no more valid than anyone else’s.

My interests moved to the older,
more cynical Han Solo, cracking wise and shooting first. During my adulthood, I
have always preferred the anti-hero. When I started playing Star Wars: The Old
Republic, my favourite characters have always been the tech users. Eventually,
of course, I also played the force classes, and with more enthusiasm when I
realised that they could use vibroswords. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sith Warrior
and Inquisitor storylines. I may do a post about the class stories at a later
date.

But, when watching the movies, although the Jedi
types seemed hopelessly naive, those lightsaber battles have always enthralled
me. I have always been a fan of swords and swordplay. The Three Musketeers are
a great example of this and, I still contend, have a very similar feel to Star
Wars, especially the 1993 version, which even has that moment at the end of
D’Artangian’s duel with Rochefort where D'Artangian's sword seems to fly into his hand,
just as if he had used the force to achieve this.

Lately, more and more, Darth Simmer, my Marauder,
has been taking up my play time. The references to Ataru Form, in addition to
various other references to form in the skill trees to Forms, got me thinking
about whether these were just mechanics of the game or something else.

Some research quickly introduced me to the concept
of the Seven Forms of Lightsaber combat. I can only assume this has been
codified through the later Expanded Universe material, as I had never found
reference to this material before and I have read most of the earlier Expanded
Universe novels, read many comics and spent countless hours playing the pen and
paper Star Wars roleplaying games (all the versions) and PC games (including
the Knights of the Old Republic series).

My research into the forms reminded me of Obi-Wan’s
description of lightsabers, quoted in this post’s subject. Because, what’s
interesting about the forms is the fact that they aren’t just fighting styles,
but philosophies. Which, I suppose, could be applied to many real-world
fighting styles. And they tell a story.

For those who don’t know, the seven forms are:

I Shii-Cho (also known as the “Way of the Sarlacc”):
This is the most basic of styles, taught to padawans and younglings, as well as
Sith supplicants. It is a very sweeping style, great for crowd control and
balanced for offense and defense. It grew out of combat styles used in the era
before lightsabers and was obviously designed to deal with the threats that
Jedi of the time were likely to face. This is the style used by Luke in his
early Jedi years, and the form used by Rage Marauders and Juggernauts (Focus
Guardian/Concentration Sentinel) in SW:TOR. Considering that a large part of
the Rage / Focus / Concentration spec is based around force powers, it makes
sense that they fight with the basic form. This in no way implies that this
spec is less “advanced” than others; perhaps less specialised is a better way
to put it.

II Makashi (aka “Way of the Ysalamiri”): A precise
and focused duelling form, this is not directly implemented in SW:TOR, much to
the chagrin of many on the game’s official forums. As the Jedi order (and the
wider galaxy) evolved, Jedi fell, and armed conflict between Jedi and Sith
became more common. The Shii-Cho style, too broad and prone to disarmament by a
more skilled opponent was found lacking for duels between two saberists. From
this necessity grew the Makashi form, similar to real-world fencing and seen
on-screen with the character of Count Dooku. I enjoy the fact that this style
is named after the Ysalamiri, a creature evolved to counter a predator with
force sensitivity (the vornskr), much like the lightsaber form itself. This
fell out of favour with time, especially after Darth Bane and his rule of two
made duels between force users significantly less common.

III Soresu (aka “The Way of the Mynock”): A purely
defensive style, which we know from SW:TOR as the tanking form used by Immortal
Juggernauts and Defence Guardians. With the development of blaster technology
and the need for force users to defend themselves, Soresu form was developed.
Obi-Wan has been noted as a master of this form, but we have seen it employed
by all force users at different times throughout the movies and games,
especially its signature move of deflecting blaster bolts.

IV Ataru (aka “the Way of the Hawk-Bat”): An
aggressive and acrobatic style most prominently seen used by Yoda in the
prequel trilogies, as well as by my aforementioned Carnage Marauder (and Combat
Sentinels, of course) in SW:TOR. Extremely aggressive and effective, but also
requiring great physical prowess and acrobatic ability.

V Shien or its variant Djem So (aka “The Way of the
Krayt Dragon”): Shien is a more defensive duelling style with strong counters
utilising the user’s natural strength to dominate an opponent. Shien form
developed out of the weaknesses of older forms (Makashi was great for duelling
one-on-one, but weaker against multiple opponents; Soresu form is almost
completely defensive). While Soresu allows deflection of blaster bolts, Shien
(and its variant Djem So) allowed the user to redirect a blaster bolt to a
specific target. Shien form was favoured by Anakin Skywalker as well as
Vengeance Juggernauts and Vigilance Guardians. The development of Shien also
reflects the evolving paradigm of lightsaber combat and the Jedi order, emphasising
the need for a strong defense which still allows for powerful offensive moves
when needed.

VI Niman (aka “The Way of the Rancor”): Niman, known
as the Consular’s style evolved from a synthesis of forms I-V, and is a “jack
of all trades, master of none” style which is designed to be easy to master and
combines the use of force powers with the grab-bag of saber attacks. This
evolved from the Jedi Consular’s de-emphasis on saber mastery in favour of
adaptability and use of violence as a last resort.

VII Juyo (aka “The Way of the Vornskr”): This is
considered one of the deadliest and most dangerous of the forms, both to
opponents and to the user themselves. Juyo form involves the channeling of
negative emotion into vicious, chaotic and unpredictable attacks and, lore-wise
at least, is considered a Sith form, and its use was frowned upon and outright
forbidden by the Jedi. A variant, Vaapad, was developed by Mace Windu who also,
for the convenience of the audience, uses a purple lightsaber (purple being a
blend of red and blue, the traditional saber crystal colours of dark and light
side, respectively). Vaapad was designed to channel the negative emotions of
force users back at them, in much the same way as the Shien variant, Djem So.
Even this was considered dangerous by the Jedi, as a conduit to the Dark Side,
making it extremely odd that Juyo is the form used by both the Annihilation
Marauder and the Watchman Sentinel in SW:TOR. Damn you, game mechanics balance! Also, notably, this is the "Way of the Vornskr", named after that force-sensitive predator which the Ysalamiri evolved to defend itself from (and it can certainly be argued that Vuyo fits well with the mindset of a force-sensitive predator!).

In closing, I just have a few honourable mentions.
While not technically forms, these (among numerous other techniques) also exist
within the frankly far-more-detailed-than-I-expected subject of lightsaber
combat.

Trakata was the art of tactically deactivating and
reactivating one’s lightsaber for combat advantage. This can be seen in action
in the “Return” trailer for SW:TOR where Kao Cen Darach (Satele Shan’s master)
turns off the second blade of Satele’s saberstaff while duelling Vindican
(Malgus’ master), then reactivates it after it is behind Vindican’s guard and
uses that end to strike a disabling blow. Trakata would also allow a user to
deactivate their saber when locked with an opponent, to throw them off balance,
as well as to bypass a block/parry by quickly deactivating and reactivating the
blade and going right through the space where the defender’s blade is. Needless
to say, this technique would require an almost inhuman level of timing and
would probably be considered to be unsporting by some, although in a battle to
the death, these considerations are often forgotten!

Dun moch, which involved taunts and jests, was used
by unscrupulous force users to distract and manipulate their opponent and,
it could be argued, is honored in SW:TOR via the taunt abilities of force
using tanks.

Thanks for sticking with this rather long post. I wasn’t expecting it to
go on this long. I welcome your thoughts and comments in the comments section.

Friday, 12 May 2017

A beginning is a time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. Yes, I totally just stole that quote. Points for correctly guessing the reference (not many points because if you found your way here then you are totally a sci-fi and fantasy geek just like me; otherwise, you are very lost...).

Know then that it is the year... ok, stopping now.

The quote is apt, though, as I think we have all struggled with beginnings. They are so pregnant with possibility. Yet also fraught with danger. What if this new thing is not what I expect? And, let's be honest, this is the internet. What if this new thing is not what others expect? The last thing anyone wants is to be exposed to the full brunt of the internet's collective bile on a maiden voyage. What's that you say? There are nice people out there, too? I'll reserve judgment on that one for now.

It is important, when talking of beginnings, to understand just how things actually began to begin. That sentence got away from me a little. This, then, is the story of how I discovered MMOs in general; and Star Wars: The Old Republic in particular.

I read somewhere (don't worry, I have original thoughts, too... I promise!) that the key with starting a new story, or other literary endeavor, is to start with the saddest story you know. Then you will have your audience's sympathy and can go from there. While that sounds very poetical (and who can argue with the literary brilliance that is Alan Moore?), it is also a little depressing.

So, let's start with a moderately sad thing, mix in a little self-deprecating humor, and go from there? All in favor?

An MMO is a strange beast. I have always been a gamer. For many years, however, World of Warcraft was the only MMO I was aware of. And, my gamer buddies and I were clear that we did not like such things. So, I avoided a worldwide phenomenon out of ignorance.

Somewhere in 2008 or 2009, I discovered an awesome web series called The Guild. And the brilliant Felicia Day. While watching this, it gradually dawned on me that these awkward, dysfunctional MMO-playing geeks were my people. And, then... very little proceeded to happen at an absolutely glacial pace.

It is relevant to this story that my younger sister is possibly the most awesome person in the world. We are very close and I like to believe that the whole being in awe of my big brother thing was a contributing factor in her dawning geekdom. Can I take partial credit for that, sister?

Despite our closeness in an emotional sense, my sister lives very far away. Like, in a galaxy... So, we rarely get to see each other as much as either of us would like. Then, she got married and had a kid. So, I had to make a plan to see her and her new family. I made a plan. Seriously, don't ask. Technically, some of the actions I took to get to her quadrant of the galaxy may technically be illegal on some planets.

So, I hitched a ride on the TIE interceptor as it flew through that Stargate, engaged in a slingshot maneuver around Jupiter, and finally arrived at their home. My sister's new husband was a huge geek. I, of course, immediately loved my new brother in law. Then, I discovered he played WoW (and my sister had also started playing), and I was momentarily skeptical. In my usual, calculating way, I examined this MMO thing with great care and from many different angles during my vacation. And always, in the back of my mind, I remembered Felicia Day and her guild of misfits. And, as an added bonus, it would allow me to spend more time with my sister.

So, I bought and played World of Warcraft from early in the Cataclysm expansion (from early 2011) until shortly after the release of Warlords of Draenor (early 2015). Sadly, as these things tend to go, our little family guild slowly eroded over this time. We were still wanting to spend the time together, but the financial realities of life and gulp the demands of raising a family (seriously, gratz on the unlocked achievement there, sis!) took priority over our shared gaming time.

I therefore launched myself onto a quest to find a free-to-play MMO that was worth a damn (to at least alleviate the financial crisis). There was some overlap here, so we need to jump back to mid-2014. I found this post, about Star Wars: The Old Republic going free-to-play. Then, I proceeded to get sidetracked by reading the blog.

As previously mentioned, I tend to be very methodical and slow to adopt new things. I do my research. Eventually, it was a combination of Shintar's awesome blog, Going Commando, everything I learned about the game online (while raking through the usual stream of hateful "this game are ded" comments; oh, internet... we love you) and the simple, glorious fact that it is Star Wars! won me over.

Reading Shintar's blog also reminded me of something I think I had forgotten. My love of reading and writing. I am the great unpublished novelist. I have hundreds of the things lying about which have never seen the light of day. Did I mention I have a crippling fear of rejection? This post (and numerous others... and indeed Shintar's blog, and the others in her blog roll - especially Calphaya and Ravanel) made me think: Maybe I should try my hand at this? Perhaps the rejection isn't guaranteed?

The rest, as they say, is history. Or, since this is the beginning, the rest is the future!

This blog will be primarily about my lifelong love affair with Star Wars, the SW:TOR MMO, literature and the occasional deviation into other #geeklife. Thank you to my sister, Blizzard, Felicia Day and Shintar (seriously, check out her blog; it's awesome) for their contributions to my journey thus far. And to the ongoing Jerzy's Journeys.